Brief Summary of Tournament - 4 Rounds – 50pt SR2014 – Divide and Conquer

First event of 2014, at Travelling Man Leeds, one of my regular tournament venues. 2 lists and knowing that there is usually a high proportion of Menoth, Trolls, Legion and Cygnar I needed answers for all of them. List one was going to be pSorscha, current list based on work I did late last year and the “new tech” of Croe’s, this should give me some game against Cryx, Trolls, Legion and most general lists. The movement of the flags in Incursion has made the Kossites awesome!

Kommander Sorscha (*5pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts) (5pts)
Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Kossite Woodsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (2pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

 I now needed to be able to deal with Menoth and Cygnar, my best bet was probably a pVlad list similar to Jamie Ps, I removed the Spriggan and the 2 sniper solos for Boomhowler, eEiryss and Valachev who I added to the TAC. This would increase the jamming capacity of the list, provide more movement for the TAC (potentially Zephyring back out of the clouds), and allow them to benefit from SnP.

Vladimir, The Dark Prince (*5pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Greylord Outriders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev (2pts)
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)

Game 1 – Mark Peyton – Trolls – Balance of Power

Grim Angus (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Trollkin Scattergunner Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

I won the first turn, deployed the WGI centrally, Croes on my left with Alexia between, IFP on the right and Sorscha and Spriggan to the right of the WGI. He deployed Nyss to my right, Scatter Gunners right of the centre, Fennblades in the middle, Janissa, Grimm and the battlegroup to the left. It was a pretty standard pSorscha game, killing a unit a time with Freezing Grip, the IFP and Kossites tied up the Nyss in melee, Croe’s and WGI firing into units/beasts. The game ended with a Boundless Charged Alexia getting into Grimm with about 18 risen in play. Assassination victory.

Game 2 – James Boosey – Legion of Everblight – Close Quarters

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight (*5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Annyssa Ryvaal, Talon of Everblight (4pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
1 Spell Martyr (1pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)

I have played Boosey a couple of times in the past and chat to him at most events we go to. He dropped the Motherland last year for Legion and the current score was 1-1, who would take the lead? I won the first turn again, and chose the Vlad list, crucially forgetting that legion beasts ignore clouds, which would be pivotal later in the game. I deployed the Boomhowlers on my left, WGRC in the centre left, Vlad, Behemoth, TAC, GBs centre right and the Greylords right. He then deployed HH & Deathstalker opposite Boomhowlers, Kallus, Battlegroup and support in the centre, Legionnaires centre right, with Raptors and Annyssa on the right, prey on the outriders.

Both advanced in first turns, my second turn I set up vlad and Behemoth behind my cloud wall (after behemoth managed to do about 20 damage to a Ravagore using 2 focus), Boomies ran to engage the HH, Outriders came forward and killed a few legionaires. It was at this point I remembered that legion beasts ignore clouds and Vlad was pretty close to being in range of both Ravagores, with only one focus, this could be over very quickly! Boosey looks at the board and figures only one Ravagore is in range and sets about killing a bunch of stuff. Over half the Boomhowlers go down, couple of rifle core, 4 of the Outriders, a single TAC, prey transfers to the Great Bears. He shoots the one Ravagore at vlad, misses and deviates over 2 legionnaires and a TAC, setting both legionnaires on fire! Kallus Feats. Having earned a reprieve I decide to make the most of it, Boomhowler Rage Howls, causing a Sheppard to flee, and forcing one of the Ravagores to have to move to escape the -2.  Vlad puts up SnP and Windwall and feats, sends Behemoth into the closest Ravagore with one focus from the Koldun. Practicaly cripples the Ravagore (But doesn’t kill it). TAC kill some legionnaires, WGRC kill some hexhunters, incubi and a shepherd. Boosey is eying up behemoth wondering if he can get enough to it to kill it, but without committing Kallus he isn’t sure. So the Raptors come in and kill the Outriders and switch prey to GBs, Annysa kills one GB, another TAC dies. Hexhunters continue to be frustrated by the 2 remaining Boomhowlers, kill a couple of WGRC. Ravagore in melee with the Behemoth wrecks both arms, but leaves the movement and cortexes intact. My turn Vlad puts up Boundless charges a GB, charges a Raptor kills it, puts SnP up and uses the bloodboon to cast windall, putting him in B2B with the flag. GBs charge up and kill the Ravagore engaging Behemoth, who then repositions and shoots, kills shepherd. TAC charge and fail to kill the last Raptor who is contesting my flag. Boomhowler Rages again and kills a HH, more skirmishing on that side with the HH and WGRC. Boosey now needs to kill both GBs and then send in the Ravagore to kill Behemoth, he will then be pretty safe to dominate his flag and start to score. The upshot of this turn is that tough can be a really nightmare when it goes against you, he dedicated a whole pile of stuff to killing the GBs and tough blocked it all. Meaning I could kill his Ravagore if it killed Behemoth, and then the GBs would threaten Kallus. In my next turn the GBs charged and killed Annysa, the TAC killed the last Raptor, Behemoth repositioned for a charge on the Ravagore, I score 1 point. Just as Boosey starts his turn Dice Down is called and I win on 1 CP. Not the way I wanted to win the game, but a win none the less. Win by Scenario.

Game 3 – Tom – Retribution of Scyrah - Incursion

Adeptis Rahn Shyeel (*6pts)
* Banshee (10pts)
* Phoenix (10pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
House Shyeel Battle Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

I selected Sorscha and won the roll to go first again, this being a running theme of the day. I deployed IFP on the left then Alexia, WGI, Sorscha, Spriggan, A&H, AD Croe’s. He deploys Stormfalls and Assassins on each flank, Banshee, Arcanist, Magister left, Rahn, Madelyn, Sentinels, Battle Mages centre, Pheonix, Arcanist, right. So both advance on the first turn, right side flag disappears. Kossites come on the left and kill the Assassin and 2 Stormfalls! Sorscha advances, freezes the Sentinels, Wind Rushes back. Croes advance on the right and kill 3 more stormfalls an a couple of sentinels, WG put the pain on the sentinels killing about 7-8, Alexia advances into the centre, catching most of my models in her command. BDP advance Iron Zeal and Shield Wall onto the flag. With his centre fairly decimated he advances and starts to thin out my troops, setting 6 BDP on fire, Assassin charges and misses Croe. Battlemages and Rahn slam the Spriggan around like a pinball killing some WGI, narrowly missing Alexia. Looking at the position on the board I check Sorcha’s control and it looks like I can cap Rahn with her feat, so I charge a WGI, pop feat, put a wind rush into Rahn for about 8 damage, wind rushes back to safety. Croe’s advance down the flank and 3 get in range of Rahn and 2 finish him off. A pretty quick game, and one that highlighted the lethality of attacking stationary targets, and the massive range of Sorcha’s threat. Win by Assassination.

Game 4 – Paul Gibbon – Mercs – Fire Support

Drake MacBain (*6pts)
* Galleon (18pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts) (5pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Sea Dog Crew (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Bosun Grogspar (2pts)
Doc Killingsworth (2pts)
First Mate Hawk (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

So I found myself on the top table playing Mercs for the final! Hi lists where the above and a Madhammer list with an Earthbreaker, Kayazy, Nyss. I knew that the Vlad list wouldn’t be able to handle the Drake list, too many unkillable models would push me out of the game. So I opted for Sorscha and he dropped MacBain. The game went pretty much as I hoped with him feating first turn, (I won first turn again). My counter feat locking him in place while I sprayed over them into the back lines. In the following turns it turned into a massive grind, with freezing grip being the deciding factor, essentially eliminating one unit at a time. I killed the Galleon over 3 turns with Kyss of Lyriss and BDP. The Alexia’s filled the centre of the board with thralls for about 4 turns. I managed to push him back enough to score 2 CPs, my next turn I cleared the flag near Sorscha and scored 3 to take the win. It was a tough game and a couple of errors on my opponent’s side in a pivotal turn allowed me to close the deal earlier than I probably would have done. Win by Scenario.

So Sorscha proves that she can take many opponents and I am glad I have spent time learning her threats and manoeuvrability. The small unit of BDP where much better than I thought, they where able to deal enough damage to key targets and it’s a lot easier to get 8 guys within 4 of a flag than 12. The Kossites proved kings of jam and surprise! Incursion really is the scenario for them, coming on to threaten the flag that has remained.

Vlad did some work, my mistake nearly cost me the game, but I am confident I won’t make the same one again. Great Bears with SnP are amazing, as are Outriders. Rifle Core do not like stealth units, means they have to get way too close.

Well this went well.......

So I haven't been very active with my blog... quite a few reasons for this, but I won't go into them!

My plan is to do a few posts over the next week or so in some form of catch up.

Firstly the ETC!

This was a eye opening event for me, my team mates (Luke, Paul, Kenny) where great fun over the weekend and my various opponents from around the UK & Europe where a pleasure.

My final list

Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador (*3pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
* Black Ivan (10pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 1 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer (1pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)

To summarise;

Game 1: Friday Night

First match up was against a Danish Team. I got drawn against another Khador Player (They had 2) with a pIrusk list very similar to the one I had played for before deciding to go with The Old Witch. I knew his units and this would prove to help out. It was a hard pressed game, but in the end his greater experience and a well timed feat won through. And i lost my first game, my other team mates other than Luke also lost, so the Team was 0-1 down as was I.

Game 2: Saturday Morning

First match of the day against Team Epic Slayer, I got possibly the work match up with eHaley Dual Stormwall, with my infantry heavy list and the covering fire templates the Stormwalls locked me out of the game. My opponent was very sporting and said at the start of the match that he felt sorry for me!
The Team also lost putting us on 0-2.

Game 3: Saturday Lunch

I was a bit frustrated by this point as was Team Captain Paul, neither of us or the team had a win yet and our optimism was failing. We where drawn against another northern team, this one from closer to by old home town, Sunderland.

Paul used our team feat this round to secure to solid match ups. I was placed against the Skorne Fatman Rasketh. I secured the first turn and advanced aggressively, my opponent followed suit, I then advanced again and feated, this was decisive and caused me to have 2 turns of attacking several of my opponents key pieces, and eventualy Rasketh fell to the blows of my Kayazy Assassins. A pretty solid win and a great boost for my confidence!

Game 4: Saturday Evening

Last game of the day, and I dearly wanted to finish the day on even win to loss ratio. Drawn against one of the York teams, Paul was keen for us to put them in their place (Paul being from York!). I was paired against the troll player with epic Madrak. I fancied my chances hear as I have played trolls myself and play against them pretty regularly. Again the feat was decisive allowing me to kill all the Tuffaloes and a Diretroll before the lines really engaged, putting me up on the attrition, and eventually Madrak died to massed fire.
Team also won, putting us both on 2-2!

Game 5: Sunday Morning

Old Witch Mirror Match! This was an interesting game, i had gone for a less traditional OW list in that i had 2 Jacks totalling 23 points. My opponents list was far more optimised, and as such i was forced to feat first to defend the scenario, which would ultimately seal my fate. Luckily the team had a better round putting me on 2-3 and the team on 3-2.

Game 6: Sunday Afternoon

This was the match-up i had been waiting for, Cryx with eGaspy. A truly sick caster, but i had one of the few feats in the game that can prevent his from working. Sadly i would not get to play the game out, as my opponent didnt move his caster far enough forward in the second turn and died to the effects of the Kill Box artifice. The team did not fair so well, and we both finished on 3-3, and bang on target for what we wanted in our first ETC!

So I had an awesome weekend! Both from playing games against new and varied opponents, and from spending some quality time with my gaming buddies! We shall never speak of the late night shopping channel again!